We believe that God is not answerable to anyone and that as King and Ruler of all, He exercises His will without accountability to anyone but Himself. There is no power or person who is able to overturn or make void His will and purpose. He does not seek counsel. He is Creator of all and holds all things together in accordance with His will, and for His good pleasure.
We believe the Holy Scriptures reveal that while there is only one God, He is a trinity, three persons co-existing in one being. God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. These three are one. This oneness is of the same essence, nature, and purpose. God is spirit.
We believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin who conceived under the power of the Holy Ghost. Christ was God revealed in the flesh as predicted by the Holy Scriptures. His birth was both a miracle and a mystery. Jesus Christ was fully man and fully God. Because of this miraculous birth, He became the only mediator between God and man.
We believe that the death of Jesus Christ was and is a substitutionary death that becomes effective for all who put faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. This means that all of the full price of mankind’s sin is paid once and for all through the death of Christ. When He died,we died. This great truth must be received and accounted as fact by all believers.
We believe that Jesus Christ is God and has all of the attributes, qualities, nature, and character of God. He made Himself to be equal with God because He was and “is” God.
We believe that Jesus Christ physically arose from the grave. The resurrection of his body was a complete and total resurrection. This gives us hope that we too will one day experience a bodily resurrection.
We believe that because of sin, man is totally depraved. He is born in sin, and he is dead in his sins and trespasses; therefore, he has no capacity to respond to God. There is no one who by his nature does what is good. There is no one who by nature seeks after God. It is because of man’s total depravity that God has to extend grace, cause the living to enter into death, and cause the resurrection of and impart new life to dead men.
We believe that salvation is provided by God by His grace alone. No one earns salvation. No one is able to fulfill the requirements of true righteousness. So God gives it as a gift. However, the gift can only be received through faith. We receive the gift based on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His Son. Good works do not produce salvation, but salvation produces good works.
We believe that one must be born again by the Spirit of God in order to enter into the Kingdom of God. There is nothing of the human nature or flesh that is suitable for heaven. Reformation is not good enough. God provides a totally new creation that is initiated through the new birth. We become partakers of God’s nature through this new birth. Just as one who is born of the flesh is flesh, one who is born of the Spirit is spirit. This new birth is a spiritual birth that all children of God must experience.
We believe that the Holy Spirit is God. We believe that He is a person and that He has all of the characteristics of personage. Holy Scripture reveals that the Holy Spirit can be grieved, that He comforts, teaches, leads, and strengthens us. The Holy Spirit is not an influence, a power, or anything else that lacks personage. He should never be referred to as “it.” He is holy and possesses all of the attributes, qualities, nature, and character of God. He is God.
We believe that all believers receive the Holy Spirit at the point of regeneration or rebirth. After the new birth, there are times of being filled with the Spirit, of being empowered by the Spirit, and of being immersed, united, or baptized by the Spirit. We believe that the experience of being empowered, filled, and baptized by the Spirit can be different and is not limited to only one manifestation. We believe that in any case, the Holy Spirit’s work enables believers to serve in the Kingdom of God throughout the world, wherever He may send them.
We believe that there is only one body, the Church of Jesus Christ, and that each member of the body is dependent on other members of the body.We are members one of another. No member is less important than another member of the body. In fact, God bestows more abundance and honor on members who may seem less important, so that there will be no schism in the body.
We believe that the major focus of the church is to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and teaching them to observe to do all that He has taught us to do.
We believe that those who have received Jesus Christ should grow and manifest the fruit of the Spirit of God, and should be as concerned about the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit, as with the gifts of the Spirit. For the fruit of the Spirit is the power that makes the gifts effective.
We believe the Holy Spirit gives all believers several gifts. These gifts enable us to function effectively in service to others, both within and outside of the Kingdom of God. These gifts are supernatural and work in the spiritual realm. They are given by the Holy Spirit as He sees fit and will empower us to do the work and will of God as we serve others. Gifts are not given for show, but for work. Believers must learn how to operate in their gifts under the control and direction of the Holy Spirit. Believers must learn how to serve in an orderly and decent manner. Our gifts are given in order to edify and build up the body of Christ. We should not use these gifts to edify ourselves, only the ministry.
We believe that believers experience sanctification as a past act through the death of Jesus Christ, as a present act as the Holy Spirit through the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us, and as a future act when we shall be changed and made like Jesus Christ and experience the fullness of sanctification.
We believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. Once we are born again, Christ becomes Lord over us. He is the head of His body to which each believer belongs. The believer’s life is no longer his own, but belongs totally to Jesus Christ. As believers we are to be totally submissive and obedient to Him, honoring Him as Lord.
We believe that all who receive the new birth are justified totally and completely by the blood of Jesus Christ. This justification is a position that we have as a result of the atonement provided by Christ. When God sees us, he sees no sin because Jesus became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God.
We believe that Jesus Christ will return again and that there are no prophecies that need to be fulfilled before He returns. He could come at any moment. We believe that no one knows the day or the hour when He will return. Therefore, we should all live as if it could happen today.